Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
by MockCerami
Summary: 1920s mafia AU. Violence and sexuality. Hans is the youngest son in "the family", and eager to prove himself as a potential don, making up for lack of experience with excessive ambition. However, his relationship with Anna, a powerful dealer's sister, leaves him questioning his values when they're both put in danger by a rival family, and questions arise regarding his competence.
1. Chapter 1

_(**Author's note**: This fic is inspired by tumblr user gel-du-cerveau's 1920s/Mafia Frozen AUs. :) )_

Hans of the South Side had promised himself that today would be the day he introduced his girlfriend to his family. The only difference between this and any other introduction is that there was a slight possibility that Anna could end up with a bullet in the brain, he told himself.

_'Yeah. Slim chance of that, really. I think.'_

Hans was a true son of the 20s, spending long nights in speakeasies with a flask in his suit pocket and twisting the Prohibition into an arrangement that benefited himself and his family. The ban on liquor ensured that the family kept a steady income from illegal sales, and the power of his family was enough to dwarf all possible competition. That wasn't to say the business was comfortable; Bullets still flew on occasion.

The German-Italian mob family's business was no secret to anybody who had lived in the area for more than a couple weeks, and the roots of the business ran deep below the surface of the "legitimate businesses" of the city. Hans had much to prove, and rose to the meet the challenge, even if his brothers commonly denied him the credit. What Hans lacked in age and experience, he made up with ambition. He had hits under his belt, and every day yielded a new lesson about how to better operate within the family.

He had found the balance between work and play, or so he thought. Anna Arendelle was his favorite plaything, but at the same time, she was much, much more. The two had met at a mutual business partner's social, and the encounter turned into a date that spanned the entire night. Anna's older sister, a powerful loan shark and dealer, eyed him with both suspicion and begrudging understanding. She knew his family, but not the extent of his involvement.

"Elsaaaa!" Anna had chimed upon returning home at dawn, drunkenly hanging on the arm of her new beau.

As soon as the girl was finished being helped into bed by a maid, Elsa had confronted Hans on the porch, standing close enough to speak without being heard by the neighbors.

"Be careful with her. She may be naive, but I'm not." She had hissed, and Hans could only nod and silently give his word before driving off.

Today marked the fourth month since that first night together, and Hans was ready to spend a peaceful day with his girl before the fateful dinner. Anna very much looked the part of a typical flapper, with a slinky blue dress clinging to her hips and a bright magenta hat that hid her curly strawberry-blonde hair and matched her thin coat. She was there waiting for him as soon as Hans opened the door, smiling and leaning against the door of his car. Hans was as slick as always in a navy suit, looking the part of a shining thread on his family's crest.

"Hey, doll." He greeted her cheerfully with a small peck.

"Hey." She cooed.

"Okay, I have to go to the market to get some things for tonight, then we can-"

"Let's go dancing." She crooned hopefully, draping her arms around his neck.

"Again? We went last night." He gave her a short twirl before opening the door and setting her down in the passenger side of the car.

"And we can go again. It was fun." She countered.

"Come on, settle down, I've got errands first." Hans waved her off, settling into his seat.

"God, you can be such a bluenose sometimes." She pouted, producing a compact mirror from her purse and checking her makeup.

Grinning, Hans slammed on the gas and then the brakes, sending Anna's compact careening onto the floor.

"Ow! Jerk!" Anna cackled, punching her boyfriend in the shoulder before fishing around for her lost accessory.

"Find it later. You look beautiful."

Anna beamed at him, and Hans eased onto the gas this time, propelling the car toward the downtown area. Anna removed her magenta hat, running her fingers through her hair. Hans kept one hand on the wheel and the other arm around Anna's shoulders, and she settled nicely against him.

* * *

Friday nights were often reserved for what Hans' mother dubbed "family time"- Namely, the men of the family would sit around the table while a third of them drank, a third of them gambled, and the remaining third tried to outdo each other with outlandish brags. Tonight was no different, and Hans had been exiled to the stool behind his eldest brother, Dirk. The table could only hold twelve, and Hans could never arrive early enough to grab a real seat. Sometimes, the patriarch would join them at the table, but tonight he was tired and weak and would rather stay in bed. The man was more of a figurehead than a true authority- Dirk oversaw most of the family's operations.

The youngest mob wife, Hailey, was in the adjacent kitchen balancing a toddler on one arm and a pan in her hand, frying a slab of bacon for the thirteen men gathered around the table. Most of the wives were buxom, tough women who were born into the lifestyle and knew when to shut up and when to put out a cigarette in a man's eye, as their interactions often required one of the two. Hans admired them for their courage.

Currently, Hans was in the hot seat, surrounded by five older brothers who wouldn't take their eyes off of him.

"So you've been seeing this girl for how long?" Dirk asked gruffly, sending a card flying to the other side of the table.

"Four months." Hans admitted, wringing his hands.

"Four months. God. And what happens when her pop finds out? We gotta deal with that shit?" One of the other brothers spat.

"She was raised in this. Father and mother are both out. Her sister runs the department store on 52nd."

"Wait, wait." A brother on the other side of the table shouted. "You said her name was Anna? Anna _Arendelle_? You're dating_ Anna Arendelle_?"

"Yes."

"Shit. Hans. You can't mess that up." Dirk breathed a sigh of relief, "Good… good. So she knows. Elsa's in the same shit. She's got trucks of coke coming out the back of that place every Thursday. The driver's one of our guys."

"Mm-hm. I'm young, not an idiot. I wouldn't go after some girl who's just hanging out on the street." He huffed.

"Not too smart, right?" The brother to Hans' left inquired.

A defense rose up in his throat, but he swallowed it. He knew what his brother was asking. "Smart enough to keep her mouth shut, if that's what you mean."

"Good. Good. Light me, will you?" Dirk asked, holding out his cigar.

"Get Anton to do it, I'm going out, don't want the smell of that shit on my clothes." Hans retorted, standing.

"What, you got a date?" Dirk smirked.

"Yeah, actually."

A series of whoops sounded from the table.

"Oh, shut up." Hans couldn't help but smile. Attention was something he still had to get used to.

* * *

Anna was practically standing, her arms raised above her head as the car sped along down the street. She was somewhat of a puppy when it came to car rides, always eager to feel the wind and pretend she was flying. Suddenly, a suspicious dark car had pulled up alongside them, matching their speed. A feeling of uneasiness suddenly crept into Hans' heart, and he felt compelled to look across at them.

"I was thinking we could go to that place that just opened up under the deli. It's across from Oaken's place. You can get me in, right?"

Silence.

"Hans?"

"Huh?"

"You can get me in the joint, right?"

"Oh. Well, I guess. It's in our territory."

"Yeah, but they can be real assholes about who gets in-"

Anna kept her list of complaints going, but they turned to static in Hans' ears. A group of familiar faces was staring back at him, a brimmed hat pulled down to overshadow the driver's eyes. Terror ripped through Hans' body; His father had warned him about these men for months, and he could see a gun glinting in the hands of the passenger. He knew a rival family when he saw one.

"_Anna, get down_." He hissed.

"No, I wanna feel the wind." She argued.

"Anna, get _down_!"

Before she could even react, Hans had shoved Anna down and slammed on the gas, just before a series of thundering pops echoed through the street. Anna screamed instinctually, covering her ears with her hands. A well-placed punch to the car door opened up a hidden compartment where a gun lay waiting for a wielder, and Hans fired back as best he could while keeping his eye on the road. Something whizzed past Hans' ear, and the enemy car slammed into the bumper of another unsuspecting motorist, stopping the would-be assassins.

By the time to assailants scrambled out of the vehicle, Hans was gone, speeding back toward his family's neighborhood as something warm ran down the side of his head.


	2. Chapter 2: The Break

_(**Author's note:** I don't like this one as much. Up next: Murder!)_

As soon as he could be sure than he had lost the pursuers, Hans pulled into an alley, slamming on the brakes and releasing his iron grip on the wheel. He hadn't entirely registered what had happened when Anna had thrown herself on him, wailing. It seemed to him that he was dreaming, that the fuzzy world around him was some figment of his imagination, and he'd be waking soon, four months younger and one bullet wound cleaner.

"Are you okay?! Are you okay?!" Anna screeched. She was breathing hard, but her eyes were dry from shock.

"Anna, please, I don't know how far away they are."

"You're bleeding, there's blood, th-"

She raised a hand to his head, trying to part his hair to examine the nature of the wound.

"Shh. Shhh."

Hans placed his gloved hands over Anna's, closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath of air. His attempts to make sense of his thoughts were primarily in vain, as they ripped through his head just as the bullets nearly had. His girlfriend continued to quiver and cling to him.

"Hans, are you hurt?" She whispered hoarsely.

"It just nicked me. I'm fine. Are you alright?" His voice was strangely calm, which only seemed to frighten Anna even more.

Anna nodded, growing paler by the second.

"Okay. Okay, we're going home. Sit down."

Anna obliged, slowly. By the time they reached the street where the majority of Hans' family lived, Anna looked as though she could very possibly collapse or vomit, so Hans kept one hand on his bleeding head and the other around her shoulders. She trembled in his arms, but he could barely feel it over the sound of blood rushing through his ears.

The woman who opened the door was Hans' mother, a delicate Italian woman in her early sixties who looked like she might flutter away if the wind picked up. She reacted with the concern of a typical mother, but with none of the surprise. She had seen it all before, seen bloodied friends and family members fall onto her doorstep. But she seemed to conduct herself in a different way this time.

"Oh my god! Honey, honey come inside, what happened?" She grabbed the two by the arms and pulled them inside the house before shouting in the direction of the kitchen, "DIRK!"

Three stray brothers and two wives were milling about in the living room, chatting about business deals and real estate, but they fell silent as soon as the door slammed shut. A baby was crying in a distant back room.

"What the fuck?" Dirk bellowed, emerging from the kitchen with a knife. An old habit from when rival families were bold enough to approach the house. He dropped it as soon as he could see the bloodied state of Hans' head.

* * *

The next half-hour was a blur, as Anna was whisked away and cared for by the wives (who had no shortage of questions) while Hans had his wound cleaned and patched by his mother. It was a very minor laceration, but Dirk wasted no time scolding Hans for his apparent "recklessness".

"Could've blown your damn brains out." He muttered over Hans' complaints about the sting of the alcohol.

At one point, the father of both men came out of hiding, looming in the doorway to the bathroom. He was a large, gruff man, but greatly resembled an old, arthritis-riddled bear. He said nothing to Hans, though he stared until the boy was uncomfortable. As soon as he had assessed the situation, he conducted some sort of meeting with Dirk in another room, and the brother emerged with a pale face and grim expression.

Hans exited the bathroom and sat at the kitchen table, where his mother had prepared a cup of coffee for him. Two more brothers had been summoned, and they were shuffling around in the "home security cabinet". Hans could hear the faint sound of a gun being cocked. They lingered in the kitchen a moment, waiting for Dirk to dismiss them.

"Get. I'll be at the deli at six." The man called, waving them off.

Dirk settled in the seat across from Hans, crossing his thick arms over his chest. He was obviously a man disgruntled, but traces of worry tainted his expression.

"Hans, listen." He sighed. "Dad... doesn't want this for you."

"... What do you mean?" Hans asked. His mind was blank.

"Just… this. Attempted hits, the business, the drugs, the liquor, all that shit. He wants you to take a break."

Dirk was obviously trying to be gentle, but the word made Hans' heart sink until it hit the bottom of his stomach. A white-hot flood of anxiety filled him as he recalled all the work he'd been getting lately, how his ambition was finally starting to earn him some praise from higher-ups.

"A break? What the hell does that mean?" He asked, his hands shaking.

"You just... can't be involved for a while. You won't be missing anything important that you know about, we need you to lay low until this hit gets called off. If the old man changes his mind, then we'll give you a job, but... just go out and enjoy yourself, find a hobby. Fly a kite or something."

"No… No, no, I want to work. I'm just starting to get a good repertoire, I can do this, I have deals lined up. Big ones. Please, you can't just kick me out!"

Hans' rage willed him to his feet. A flash of annoyance was visible in Dirk's body language.

"Don't you get it?!" Dirk shouted. The baby in the other room began to cry again. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair as he collected himself, and continued, "You're the youngest. The old man and ma feel differently about you."

"What, just because I'm younger, I've gotta get fucking babied? No, that's bullshit, I'm part of the family!" He couldn't help but shout now, his panic was overtaking him.

"The biological one? Yeah. Dad just wants to let you go."

"Well you can tell _dad_ he should be in cahoots with whoever went after me today, then. Because I'll only be gone if I'm dead. One day, I'm going to be the don, I swear to God."

"Hans-"

"Where's Anna?" He snapped.

Dirk knew when his baby brother could no longer be reasoned with. He half-heartedly motioned down the nearby hall to a guest room. Hans didn't say another word to him, leaving the full cup of coffee untouched on the table. His mother slowly crept back into the kitchen, where Dirk sat rubbing his eyes and going through a plan of attack in his head.

* * *

Anna sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room, her hands folded tightly in her lap. Her cheeks were bright red, and her eyes looked bloated from crying. She seemed to spring back to life when Hans entered, flying to her feet and burying her face in the man's chest.

"I'm scared." She whimpered, almost inaudibly.

The statement stung more than anything his brother could have said. Only now did it dawn on him that he wasn't the only one who had been targeted today, and a sudden wave of guilt nearly made his knees buckle. The thought of the lovely girl in front of him being hurt made his blood boil, and resentment began to bloom in the back of his mind. He wrapped his arms around Anna and held her tightly, breathing in the light scent of cinnamon on her hair. Hans sat, settling Anna on his lap and resting his chin on the girl's shoulder. As her chest rose and fell against his, he could feel her breaths get deeper and more regular. They sat there for a long while, not a word passing between them.

"I don't want to go home." Anna finally whispered.

"... Then don't. It's okay. I'm here."

They stayed in silence for a good few minutes before Hans raised his hand to brush a stray hair back behind Anna's ear.

"Please... let's go dancing."


End file.
